A Call from Beyond the Grave - 90%

Canadian black metal band Burialkult this year finally releases their debut full length album, A Call from Beyond the Grave, a short year after their excellent EP Evil Antichrist Hordes, which showcased their barbaric and bestial form of black metal, true to their Canadian roots.

Yet A Call from Beyond the Grave sees the band have a higher sense of theatrics, with the ominous introductory track Hossana in the Depths, with the sounds of church organs easily causing the uninitiated to mistake this as yet another Ghost wannabe or something. But things turn ugly as soon as the first riffs of By Satan Possessed hit the listener’s eardrums, and one is treated to some nice, bestial black metal. The bleak and cold atmosphere that hits the listener display the band’s early black metal influences rather clearly, and one is reminded of bands such as Mayhem and the likes, though the rather heavy atmosphere at times bring about a Finnish reminder such as Satanic Warmaster, just much more chaotic. The strong bass presence, and the trance-inducing riffs on songs like Eternal Satan even brings about some Marduk similarities.

But the true beauty of A Call from Beyond the Grave lies in the bestial roots of the band, and they certainly manage to display that on this release. The slight death metal and thrashy edge that are incorporated on songs like Blasphemous Infuneral certainly remind one bands such as Conqueror, Impiety‘s Skullfucking-era and Italian maniacs Blasphemophagher with things like the chaotic lead guitars and that overal dangerous and sinister feel that the band emanates.

The raw and filthy production quality of the album also adds to the overall charm of the album, sounding true to the early 90s production style, and further accentuating the chaos that is on the record. With the variety of influences that the band has put into this record, Burialkult‘s debut is one that will definitely please fans of any forms of black metal, from the pioneering second-wave style to the more barbaric Canadian style.